I know who I'm blaming -- Barney Frank, Bill Clinton and our Democratic Congress.
Barney Frank, Chairman of the House Finance Committee. In 2006 (before he was Chairman), he also was one of three representatives who voted against the Fallen Heroes Act that restricted protests at soldiers' funerals. What a jerk. One other dissent was another Democrat, Wu, and Republican Ron Paul. (I didn't know about Ron Paul until I just checked it out.) So jerks all three. (That whole issue is just an aside.)
Anhow, as Chair of the House Finance Committee, where is he NOW? After this debacle? Is he investigating S&P or Moody's? For rating junk AAA? Is anyone going to jail? If those mortgages securities had been properly rated, Wall Street wouldn’t have been clamoring for more. Is he regulating FNMA? Are we investigating the FHA? Do we still have Nehemiah Programs out there? And the American Dream Program? These are programs that allow the SELLER to give the BUYER his downpayment. That means buyers have absolutely no skin -- ZERO -- in the game. (I just looked it up, and BY GOLLY!!! GWB signed legislation that outlawed them. Go Bush!) Unfortunately in 2008, when the House got that bill on his desk, it was already too late. Where's Congress? Is it too much to ask that a full investigation be done and somebody goes to jail? Because somebody(ies) should.
Bill Clinton because he began the housing run-up by insisting lenders find ways to loan money to low-income borrowers with implied threats, I'm sure, because that's how it's done. For "low-income borrowers," read "people who can't pay back the money," by the way. And also Bill Clinton because these Nehemiah-type programs began during the Clinton Administration...when the FHA decided it was perfectly fine that buyers bought homes with zero down, soaked the sellers, and, as an unforeseen consequence, padded appraisals by 4% to 7%. I'd love to know who was behind these "religious and community-based" organizations that funded those downpayment assistance plans. Does community-based organization sound familiar?
I wouldn’t vote for a Democrat in 2010 if the only other choice were, I don’t know, Howdy Doody. My plan is to vote against every incumbent on the Republican ballot. If enough people did that, Congress would get the message that we’re sick and tired of politics as usual. We want real representation – not career politicians who start working on their war chests the day after they’re elected.